HB 324, Rep. Debbie Armstrong’s legislation to establish Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a disease that—when diagnosed in a firefighter without previous health issues—can be presumed to have been caused by the firefighter’s service, Wednesday unanimously passed the House Health and Human Services Committee.

“Yes, our firefighters are heroes, but they are also human,” Armstrong said.

SANTA FE ― Fire managers on the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) plan to conduct a prescribed burn in the La Cueva area 7 miles northwest of the village of Pecos if conditions, including fuel moisture levels, air quality and weather remain favorable.

Ignitions on the 372-acre La Cueva unit will treat up to 240 acres per day, and conclude by Feb. 28. Firefighters will use hand ignitions on piles of slash to reduce the risk of wildfire, provide community protection and improve forest health.

Each year more than a 790,000 Americans have a heart attack, of these nearly 15% will die as a result.

A heart attack is known clinically as a myocardial infarction (MI) and is the permanent damage to heart muscle. The prefix “my” means muscle, “cardial” refers to the heart and “infarction” is the death of tissue due to a lack of blood supply.

A heart attack happens when the blood supply to the heart is reduced or cut off. Cells within the heart will become starved of oxygen and begin to die.

A partial facility renovation project at Fire Station 3, located in White Rock, is nearly finished.

The project, which began in October, included several improvements, County Engineer Eric Martinez said. The roof was replaced over the station’s living areas, modifications to the station’s HVAC system were made, and an exterior wall and windows were added to the sleeping areas.

SANTA FE –Fire managers on the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) plan to take advantage of favorable conditions, including fuel moisture levels, air quality, and winds and weather forecasts to initiate a prescribed burn in the La Jara vicinity on the Cuba Ranger District today through March 15 as conditions allow.

A total of 79 acres may be treated in the area just east of the community of La Jara.

Prescribed fires are one of the most effective tools available to resource managers for restoring fire dependent ecosystems.

SANTA FE – To take advantage of favorable conditions, to include fuel moisture levels, air quality and weather forecasts, fire managers on the Jemez Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) expect to begin ignitions on piles between Feb. 4 and Feb. 14 to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire.

Weather permitting, crews plan to treat up to 475 acres of piles three to eight miles northeast of Jemez Springs.

The piles will be burned as three different operations:

The Pino West piles are approximately five miles northeast of Jemez Springs along the north end of

Fires of any severity can be destructive and devastating. Within seconds, all possessions could be damaged or destroyed – but in an apartment fire, the effects can go beyond a single family. Apartment complexes house many families, provide income for the landlord, and have a widespread effect if the fire is not controlled quickly.

If you have ever lived in an apartment, you may have noticed that almost all apartments’ stoves come equipped with a stove top fire extinguisher.

Superbowl Sunday is the United States’ second biggest day for food consumption. That means a lot of time is spent planning and preparing game day snacks. Before you kick off your menu, look at these tips for safer cooking from the Los Alamos Fire Department.

“Cooking is the biggest cause of home fire and fire injuries,” Safety Division Chief Joseph Baca said. “Always make safety a priority in the kitchen.”

KITCHEN HUDDLE

Prepare your cooking area. Use back burners or turn pot handles toward the back of the stove. Move things that can burn away from the stove.

The rate at which Americans are dying from overdoses involving opioids is staggering. The U.S. Center for Disease Control has deemed the opioid crisis as a national epidemic.

Decades of over-prescription, along with wide-spread misconceptions about drug addiction, have led to an astounding rise in overdose deaths. The devastation is pervasive, leaving families of every type and communities of every size grieving and searching for answers in the wake.

From 1999 to 2017, more than 700,000 people have died from a drug overdose.

Senior Fire & Life Safety Coordinator Stephen Rinaldi was honored recently with an appointment to serve on a Technical Committee tasked with the revision of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations.

The process to serve on one of the NFPA’s committees is a competitive selection process, with dozens of applications submitted each year by fire investigators and subject matter experts internationally.

A Los Alamos 911 operator took a desperate call Friday from the area near Aspen School. According to Los Alamos Police Cmdr. Preston Ballew, a man accidently shot himself while examining his gun, which he thought was not loaded. With a bullet in his arm, he managed to call 911.

LAPD Sergeants Chris Ross and James Keane were nearby and rushed to the scene, where they were joined

Los Alamos police and firefighters on the scene this afternoon of a couple of vehicles trapped under the roof that collapsed from the weight of heavy snow at Sonic on Trinity Drive. First responders told the Los Alamos Daily Post that no injuries have been reported. Sonic is closed until further notice. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com

First responders jack up the collapsed roof at Sonic to open the doors of the vehicles pinned beneath and extract the occupants safely. Photo by Leland Lehman/ladailypost.com

Winter storms can cause a community to see an increase in car accidents, falls, hypothermia, frostbite, carbon monoxide poisoning and heart attacks from overexertion. Storms bring extreme cold, freezing rain, snow, ice, and high winds. As we recently experienced, winter storms can last for several days, cause havoc on heat, power and communication services, but they also place our community members at higher risk.

Students and staff were evacuated, and Los Alamos Firefighters responded to an alarm triggered late this morning at Los Alamos High School at 1300 Diamond Dr. It turned out to be a false alarm and students and staff returned to class without incident. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com

Los Alamos County Fire Department was most impacted in 2018 by the unplanned retirement of three of its chiefs. Division Chief Paul Grano, Battalion Chief Joseph Candelaria and Training Division Chief Mike Gill each retired.

“They moved up their retirement after the County wasn't able to fund raises for non-union and management positions due to uncertain revenues from GRT but did fund raises for union members due to existing labor agreements,” Fire Chief Troy Hughes said.

The Los Alamos County Chaplain Corp organized the Los Alamos First Responders and Friends to help Santa, Mrs. Claus and Elves give gift packages Saturday to all of the residents of Sombrillo and Aspen Ridge Lodge.

WASHINGTON, D.C. ― U.S. Rep. Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) has issued the following statement after two of his important active forest management policies were signed into law by President Donald J. Trump:

“Following one of the most devastating wildfire seasons in our nation’s history, it is critical that we do everything in our power to provide the Forest Service and public land management agencies with the tools they need to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires and protect our communities," Gosar said.

One of every four home Christmas tree fires is caused by electrical problems.

Although Christmas tree fires are not common, when they do occur, they are more likely to be serious. On average, one of every 32 reported home Christmas tree fires results in a death compared to an average of one death per 143 total reported home fires.

A heat source too close to the tree causes one in every four Christmas tree fires.

Local first responders including police officers, firefighters, paramedics, 911 dispatchers, police chaplains and fire chaplains and their families were treated to a Christmas Dinner Saturday night sponsored by several churches to thank them for all they do throughout the year to take of and protect the community. The event was held at the First United Methodist Church of Los Alamos. Photo by Kateri Morris

Scene from annual first responders Christmas Dinner Saturday night at the First United Methodist Church of Los Alamos. Photo by Kateri Morris

The NIST Dragon showering firebrands (embers) onto a model of a water reed thatched roof. Courtesy/NIST

Workers build the thatched roof of a gassho-zukuri (‘constructed like hands in prayer’) style house in Japan. A new NIST study looks at the impact of firebrands on these and other thatched-roof structures. Courtesy/Bernard Gagnon via Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA

NIST News:

Visitors to the historic mountain villages in central Japan marvel at the elegance of the steep thatched-roof farmhouses found there. Known as “gassho-zukuri,” Japanese for “constructed

On the job in Los Alamos is Firefighter Michael McElyea Saturday afternoon shining up a medic unit at Station 4 at 4401 Diamond Dr., across from the golf course. Unfortunately, while he may be laughing on the outside he is really crying on the inside because the longstanding tradition at LAFD is when a firefighter's picture is published in the paper, he/she must buy ice cream for the entire station. Fortunately, Station 4 is staffed with just five personnel, a company officer, a driver engineer and three firefighters.

Following the recent terrible fires in California, Beta Sigma Phi City Council has made a donation to their organization’s Disaster Relief Fund to help their fellow sisters who lost homes and need assistance.

Los Alamos City Council President Claire Swinhoe said that she felt it was very important to contribute to the fund to show support and let people know that they were not alone. She hoped that this gesture would encourage others to do what they can for the victims.

“Thousands of homes were lost and any way we can make a difference is important,” Swinhoe said.

SANTA FE – The La Cueva prescribed burn near Pecos that was scheduled to start as early as this week is canceled due to the lack of needed snow.

Fire managers will check conditions the first of the New Year.

As early as Dec. 10,fire managers from the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest expected to prescribed burn approximately 372 acres in the La Cueva area through Dec. 31 as weather permitted.

The treatment area is approximately seven miles northwest of Pecos.

Prescribed burns are one of the most effective tools available to resource managers for

D-SNAP will be offered in parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties due to the impact of the Woolsey and Hill wildfires, and Butte County in northern California due to the Camp Fire. Households in the affected areas may be eligible if they have qualifying disaster-related expenses and meet D-SNAP income limits.